Be Agressive. B-E- Agressive.

The time has come to answer the age-old question, "Is cheerleading really a sport?" Varying opinions can now be set aside, as a federal judge in Connecticut is going to tell us. On Monday, Judge Stefan Underhill began presiding over a U.S. District Court trial to decide whether cheerleading can be counted as a sport by schools looking for ways to meet gender-equality requirements.

The decision is part of a lawsuit filed last year by the members of the women's volleyball team at Quinnipiac University (known for all of those polls) in Connecticut. The school decided to eliminate women's volleyball in favor of a competitive cheer squad because it was cheaper. Apparently, pom poms and mini-skirts cost less than knee pads and volleyballs?!

The hullabaloo is due to the adherence to Title IX, the 1972 federal law that mandates equal opportunities for both men and women in athletics. An activity is considered a sport under Title IX if it has coaches, practices, competitions during a defined season, and a governing organization. The activity also must have competition as its primary goal—not just the support of other athletic teams.

So, what do we think? In the description above of what an activity encompasses, I would have to agree that cheerleading should be considered a sport. What amazes me about this whole situation is that the school needs to cut one sport in order to accommodate another, and that the deciding factor is cold, hard cash.

Slightly off topic...well somewhat related. Why didn't cheerleaders ever cheer at soccer games? As a soccer player, I was always bummed that we did not have the ladies strutting their stuff in support of our team. I mean, after all, our soccer team won the State championship twice in high school, and the football and basketball teams were lucky to finish above .500. Perhaps the decision to cheer or not to cheer was based on the fact that we were so good, we didn't need any support.

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